Mary Esther Elementary Principal Creates App for Teachers

MARY ESTHER It will no longer be the normal sound students hear when it is time to change classes.

But it is part of a new system, teachers will be using this next school year at Mary Esther Elementary.

It's an App --called Teacher Schedule Reminder and it was created by Principal Gary Massey.

"Some type of alarm for teachers so they don't have to think about what time to be where do to teachers overlooking the time, and getting involved with what they are doing,” said Massey.

The App is pretty easy for teachers to use.

All they do is put in the event, and what time they would like the alarm to go off.

"We've always used a big classroom timer, to keep the students on task, they have always focused looking at the timer, to see how much time they have left,” said Brianne Leblanc, a 3rd grade math teacher. “Now they won't be focused on that, but rather focused on the activity.

The alarm will sound for 10 seconds before turning off and teachers have 11 different tones to choose from.

Both Massey and teachers believe after a few weeks, students will know which alarm goes with what class.

"Students love structure, and what this does is it embeds structure into their lives every day,” said Massey.

The App is available at both the apple store, and google play.

In the future he hopes to connect the App to itunes so teachers can match songs to each class.

Massey bought the App for all of his teachers.

He's also presented it to the Okaloosa County School District hoping other schools will be interested in using it.

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